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@Ridgerunner - thank you for that very thorough and thoughtful response! I think it's possible that maybe some research on this topic is relating to commercial poultry. However, I don't think Gail Damerow's books are geared toward that industry. I think her material is very much written with the backyard chicken keeper in mind.
I'm guessing the overall idea is that chicks hatched in Spring are maturing and coming into lay as daylight hours are getting shorter (late summer, early fall), whereas chicks hatched in the fall are maturing as daylight hours are getting longer (for my chicks it will be like sometime between mid- Feb to mid-March), so it's backwards, thus the need to correct the lighting in order to avoid reproductive problems.
Maybe it just doesn't matter in backyard flocks, but I'm struggling with why it's mentioned in these books at all if that's the case.
I'm guessing the overall idea is that chicks hatched in Spring are maturing and coming into lay as daylight hours are getting shorter (late summer, early fall), whereas chicks hatched in the fall are maturing as daylight hours are getting longer (for my chicks it will be like sometime between mid- Feb to mid-March), so it's backwards, thus the need to correct the lighting in order to avoid reproductive problems.
Maybe it just doesn't matter in backyard flocks, but I'm struggling with why it's mentioned in these books at all if that's the case.
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